The Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876 (also known as the Japan–Korea Treaty of Amity in Japan and the Treaty of Ganghwa Island in Korea) was made between representatives of the Empire of Japan and the Korean Kingdom of Joseon in 1876. Negotiations were concluded on February 26, 1876.
82-676: In Korea, Heungseon Daewongun , who instituted a policy of increased isolationism against the European powers, was forced into retirement by his son King Gojong and Gojong's wife, Empress Myeongseong . France and the United States had already made several unsuccessful attempts to begin commerce with the Joseon dynasty during the Daewongun's era. However, after Daewongun was removed from power, many new officials took power who supported
164-735: A tributary state of the Qing dynasty and opened three ports to Japanese trade. The treaty also granted the Japanese people many of the same rights such as extraterritoriality in Korea that Westerners enjoyed in Japan. The chief treaty negotiators were Kuroda Kiyotaka , Director of the Hokkaidō Colonization Office , and Shin Heon , General/Minister of Joseon-dynasty Korea. The articles of
246-444: A blind eye to such incursions. This attitude changed abruptly, however, with the enthronement of the eleven-year-old King Gojong in 1864. By Korean tradition, the regency in the case of a minority would go to the ranking dowager queen. In this case, it was the conservative mother of the previous crown prince, who had died before he could ascend the throne. The new king's father, Yi Ha-ung , a wily and ambitious man in his early forties,
328-400: A brisk fire from its Korean defenders. General Eo Jae-yeon defended Gwangsung camp from French troops. If the monastery of Munsusansong fell into French hands, the way to Seoul would be open, so, on 7 November, a second landing party was launched by Roze. 160 Naval Fusiliers attacked Munsusansong defended by 543 Korean "Tiger Hunters." Three French soldiers were killed and 36 injured before
410-744: A firm response to such acts of violence was necessary to maintain national prestige and authority. In response to the event, the French chargé d'affaires in Beijing , Henri de Bellonet, took a number of initiatives without consulting Quai d'Orsay . Bellonet sent a note to the Zongli Yamen threatening to occupy Korea, and he also gave the French Naval Commander in the Far East, rear admiral Pierre-Gustave Roze instructions to launch
492-579: A heightened sensitivity to the foreign creed. The crackdown may also have been related to attempts to combat factional cliques at court, where Christianity had made some inroads. As a result of the Korean dragnet, all but three of the French missionaries were captured and executed: among them included Bishop Siméon Berneux , as well as Bishop Antoine Daveluy , Father Just de Bretenières, Father Louis Beaulieu , Father Pierre-Henri Dorie , Father Pierre Aumaître, Father Martin-Luc Huin – all of whom were members of
574-476: A leader in Korea during the Gabo Reform . They approached the Daewongun as a potential leader. When he agreed, on 23 July Japanese soldiers liberated him from the house arrest Gojong had placed him under. In exchange for his help, the Daewongun asked for a promise that if the reforms succeeded, "Japan will not demand a single piece of Korean territory". The soldiers took him to the palace, where they approached
656-443: A minister to fetch the son of Yi Ha-eung, eleven-year-old Yi Myeong-bok, who was flying a kite in a palace garden. The son was brought to the palace in a sedan chair, where Queen Sinjeong rushed forward and called him her son, thus producing the new Joseon king, King Gojong, adopted son of Crown Prince Hyomyeong . This story may or may not have been true. These facts, however, are known to be correct. On 16 January 1864, Yi Myeong-bok
738-598: A protest with British authorities in Guangzhou through the Chinese government. In June 1846, three French warships dropped anchor off the coast of Chungcheong Province and conveyed a letter protesting persecution of Catholics in the country. In April 1854, two armed Russian vessels sailed along the eastern coast of Hamgyong Province , causing some deaths and injuries among the Koreans they encountered. The incident prompted
820-505: A punitive expedition against Korea, to which Roze responded: "Since [the kingdom of] Choson killed nine French priests, we shall avenge by killing 9,000 Koreans." Though the French diplomatic and naval authorities in China were eager to launch an expedition, they were stymied by the almost total absence of any detailed information on Korea, including any navigational charts. Prior to the actual expedition, Rear Admiral Roze decided to undertake
902-472: A retreat was called. Except for continued bombing and surveying activity around Ganghwa and the mouth of the Han River, French forces now largely fortified themselves in and around the city of Ganghwa. Roze then sent a new letter, asking for the release of the two remaining French missionaries whom he had reason to believe were imprisoned. No answer was forthcoming, but it became clear from activity seen on
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#1732772803611984-407: A small boat to launch and put ashore a party on Kanghwa Island to request water and provisions. The Korean forts opened fire. The Un'yō brought its superior firepower to bear and silenced the Korean guns. After bombarding the Korean fortifications, the shore party torched several houses on the island and exchanged fire with Korean troops. The Japanese were armed with modern rifles and quickly routed
1066-478: A smaller surveying expedition along the Korean coast, especially along the waterway leading to the Korean capital of Seoul . This was done in late September and early October 1866. These preliminaries resulted in some rudimentary navigational charts of the waters around Ganghwa Island and the Han River leading to Seoul. The treacherous nature of these waters, however, also convinced Roze that any movement against
1148-517: A strict social hierarchy: the wealth of the yangban nobility rested on the backs of sangmin farm labourers and tenants; the Daewongun wanted to prevent the collapse of this hierarchy; despite his fame for his fairness and support of civilization, the emancipation of the sangmin would mean the destruction of the yangban, his own social class. The international relations of Joseon worsened as the Daewongun adopted increasingly desperate and harsher measures in order to repel Westernization. The Daewongun made
1230-578: Is estimated at 800. On 16 October, a group of 170 Naval Fusiliers landed on Ganghwa island, seized the fortress which controlled the Han river, and occupied the fortified city of Ganghwa itself. On Ganghwa Island, the Naval Fusiliers managed to seize several fortified positions, as well as booty such as flags, cannons, 8,000 muskets, 23 boxes of silver ingots, a few boxes of gold, and various lacquer works, jades, and manuscripts and paintings that comprised
1312-401: Is remembered both for the wide-ranging reforms he attempted during his regency, as well as for what was described by historian Hilary Conroy as "vigorous enforcement of the seclusion policy, persecution of Christians , and the killing or driving off of foreigners who landed on Korean soil". The Daewongun was born Yi Ha-eung on 24 January 1821. He was the fourth son of Yi Chae-jung, a member of
1394-575: Is unclear, but on that morning, Japanese agents assassinated Queen Min . The Daewongun died in 1898, just a little over a year after the formation of the Korean Empire . On 24 August 1907 Emporer Sunjong bestowed him the posthumous title Internal King Heungseon Heonui . [REDACTED] Media related to Heungseon Daewongun at Wikimedia Commons French campaign against Korea The French Intervention to Korea ( French : Expédition française en Corée , Korean : 병인양요 )
1476-620: The China–North Korea border or the Yellow Sea. French missionaries of the Paris Foreign Missions Society were able to arrive in Korea in the 1840s to convert an increasingly large number of Koreans. Bishop Siméon-François Berneux , appointed in 1856 as head of the infant Korean Catholic church, estimated in 1859 that the number of Korean faithful had reached nearly 17,000. At first, the Korean court turned
1558-709: The Treaty of Ganghwa . In contemporary South Korea it is known as the Byeong-in yangyo , or "Western disturbance of the byeong-in year". Throughout the history of the Joseon dynasty, Korea maintained a policy of strict isolationism from the outside world (with the exceptions being interaction with the Qing dynasty and occasional trading with Japan through the island of Tsushima ). However, it did not entirely succeed in sealing itself off from foreign contact, and Catholic missionaries had shown interest in Korea as early as
1640-412: The royal library (Oikyujanggak) on the island. Roze knew it was impossible for him to lead a fleet of limited force up the treacherous and shallow Han River to the Korean capital and satisfied himself with a "coup de main" on the coast from his earlier exploratory expedition. On the mainland across the narrow channel from Ganghwa Island, however, the French offensive was met with stiff resistance from
1722-406: The 16th century with their arrival in China and Japan. Through Korean envoy missions to the Qing court in the 18th century, foreign ideas, including Christianity , began to enter Korea and by the late 18th century Korea had its first native Christians. However, it was only in the mid-19th century that the first western Catholic missionaries began to enter Korea. This was done illegally, either via
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#17327728036111804-653: The 1866 Byeong-in Persecution [ ko ] . He was involved in the General Sherman incident as well. The Isolation Policy became more entrenched in 1868 when German merchant Ernst Oppert attempted to take hostage the bones of the Daewongun's father in order to force him to open Korea to trade; and even further so after the 1871 American attack of Gwanghwado . The Isolation Policy provided immediate benefits of fortifying Korean patriotism as well as protecting Korean Confucianism. The Heungseon Daewongun
1886-641: The 19th century, the Koreans had maintained diplomatic relations only with its suzerain , China, and with neighboring Japan. Foreign trade was mainly limited to China and was conducted at designated locations along the China–Korea border , and with Japan through the waegwan in Pusan. By the mid-19th century, Westerners had come to refer to Korea as the Hermit Kingdom . The Daewongun was determined to continue Korea's traditional isolationist policy and to purge
1968-567: The 500-year-old Joseon Dynasty. With the aged dowager regent's blessing, the Heungseon Daewongun set out upon a dual campaign of both strengthening central authority and isolation from the disintegrating traditional order outside its borders. By the time the Heungseon Daewongun assumed de facto control of the government in 1864, there were twelve French Jesuit priests living and preaching in Korea, and an estimated 23,000 native Korean converts. In January 1866, Russian ships appeared on
2050-428: The Daewongun attempted several reforms. His main goal was to "crush the old ruling faction that had virtually usurped the sovereign power of the kings earlier in the century". When he took power in 1864, the Daewongun was determined to reform the government and strengthen central control. He led an anti-corruption campaign, disciplined the royal clans, and taxed the aristocracy, the yangban . Cumings notes that this
2132-508: The Daewongun into semi-retirement and undid many of his reforms. The Daewongun's foreign policy was rather simple, as Cumings describes it: "no treaties, no trade, no Catholics , no West, and no Japan". He maintained an isolationist policy. The Isolation Policy was a policy made to isolate Joseon from all foreign forces except for China which he believed to be the strongest. He tried to refuse Russia's quest to open Joseon's ports to them by using France, but France refused to help – causing
2214-404: The Daewongun to come to the palace. The Daewongun's appearance, escorted by 200 mutineers, "put an immediate end to the wild melee." Gojong gave the Daewongun "all the small and large matters of the government" and thus the Daewongun resumed his rule. Both Japanese and Chinese forces headed towards Korea to put down the rebellion, and Ma Chien-chung , a Chinese diplomat in Korea, decided that it
2296-863: The French consul Bellonet had made outrageous (and as it turned out unofficial) demands that the Korean monarch forfeit his crown and cede sovereignty to France. Such a stance was not in keeping with the more circumspect goals of Rear Admiral Roze, who hoped to force reparations. In any case, the demands of Bellonet were never officially endorsed by the French government of Napoleon III . Bellonet would later be severely reprimanded for his importunate blusterings. On 11 October, Admiral Roze left Yantai with one frigate ( Guerrière ), two avisos ( Kien–Chan and Déroulède ), two gunboats ( Le Brethon and Tardif ) and two corvettes ( Laplace and Primauguet ), as well as almost 300 Naval Fusiliers from their post in Yokohama, Japan. The total number of French troops
2378-422: The French suffered three dead and approximately 35 wounded. In retreating from Korea, Roze attempted to lessen the extent of his retreat by stating that with his limited means, there was little more he could have accomplished but that his actions would have a dissuasive effect upon the Korean government: The European residents in China considered the expedition's results minimal and demanded a larger expedition for
2460-416: The Japanese government as to whether or not to send a mission to Korea to settle the incident. Japan and Korea signed the 'Japan Korea Treaty of Amity' on 26 February 1876. Japan employed gunboat diplomacy to press Korea to sign this unequal treaty . The pact opened up Korea, as Commodore Matthew Perry's fleet of Black Ships had opened up Japan in 1853. According to the treaty, it ended Joseon's status as
2542-546: The Joseon dynasty, dating from between the 14th and 19th centuries, went on to become the core of the Korea collection in the Bibliothèque nationale de France . In 2010 it was revealed that the French government was planning to return the books on a renewable lease to Korea, despite the fact that French law generally prohibited the cession of museum property. In early 2011, South Korean president Lee Myung-bak and French president Nicolas Sarkozy finalized an agreement for
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2624-508: The Korean capital at Seoul. During the aftermath of the Meiji restoration in late 1868, a member of the Sō daimyō informed the Korean authorities that a new government had been established and that an envoy would be sent from Japan. In 1869, the envoy from the Meiji government arrived in Korea and carried a letter requesting the establishment of a goodwill mission between the two countries. It contained
2706-426: The Korean forces growing stronger, Roze made the strategic decision to evacuate. Before doing so, orders were given to bombard the government buildings on Ganghwa Island and to carry off the varied contents of official storehouses there. It was also learned that the two missing missionaries feared captured in Korea had managed to escape to China around this time. This news contributed to the decision to leave. All told,
2788-596: The Korean government to issue a ban forbidding the people of the province from having any contact with foreign vessels. In January and July 1866, ships manned by the German adventurer Ernst J. Oppert appeared off the coast of Chungcheong Province seeking trade. In August 1866, an American merchant ship, the General Sherman , appeared off the coast of Pyongan Province , steaming along the Taedong River to
2870-407: The Korean government, and Sugimura Fukashi , a secretary of the Japanese legation, planned the attempt. The two decided to involve the Daewongun in the plot, and after making inquiries, learned that he was "indignant enough to plan a coup" and would cooperate with them. On 8 October 1895, early in the morning, Japanese policemen escorted the Daewongun to the palace. His involvement from that point on
2952-524: The Korean monarch a vassal or subject of the Japanese ruler. The Japanese were, however, just reacting to their domestic political situation in which the shogun had been replaced by the emperor. The Koreans remained in the Sinocentric world in which China was at the center of interstate relations and as a result refused to receive the envoy. The bureau of foreign affairs wanted to change those arrangements to one based on modern state-to-state relations. On
3034-629: The Koreans and the Americans. The General Sherman was sunk in the dispute, and a number of American merchantmen sailors and Koreans killed. With no verified accounts provided by the Joseon Dynasty about the fate of the General Sherman , the United States offered France a combined operation to recover information on the schooner's fate, but the project was abandoned due to the relatively low interest for Korea at that time. An intervention
3116-615: The Koreans continued to adhere to isolationism and refused to negotiate to open up the country. During the Edo period , Japan's relations and trade with Korea were conducted through intermediaries with the Sō family in Tsushima . A Japanese outpost called the waegwan was allowed to be maintained in Tongnae near Pusan. The traders were confined to the outpost and no Japanese were allowed to travel to
3198-419: The Koreans who carried matchlock muskets. Thirty-five Korean soldiers were left dead. The Un'yo then attacked another Korean fort on Yeongjong Island and withdrew back to Japan. News of the incident only reached the Japanese government eight days later on September 28, and the following day the government decided to dispatch warships to Pusan to protect Japanese residents there. There were also debates within
3280-716: The Paris Foreign Missions Society, and were canonized by Pope John Paul II on 6 May 1984. An untold number of Korean Catholics also met their end (estimations run around 10,000), many being executed at a place called Jeoldu-san in Seoul on the banks of the Han River. In late June 1866, one of the three surviving French missionaries, Father Félix-Claire Ridel, managed to escape via a fishing vessel, thanks to 11 Korean converts, and made his way to Yantai , China in early July 1866. Fortuitously in Tianjin at
3362-537: The Taewongun [Daewongun] as a vehicle for the reform program had misfired". A Japanese statesman, Inoue Kaoru , was sent to Korea as the new resident minister, where he told the Daewongun, "You always stand in the way," and forced the Daewongun to promise that he would "abstain from interference in political affairs". In 1895, Japanese officials in Korea were plotting the removal of Gojong's wife, Queen Min . Miura Gorō , Inoue Kaoru's successor as Japanese advisor to
Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876 - Misplaced Pages Continue
3444-527: The choice of protecting the world he knew by trying to shut out foreigners, at the cost of delaying development and modernization, and to keep Korea a hermit kingdom . Many Koreans state that had he chosen to engage with foreign countries as his daughter-in-law Queen Min advocated, the Japanese rule of Korea could have been avoided. However, others state that the ten years of the Isolation Policy
3526-484: The decision to launch a punitive expedition. These had to do with the increasing violence against Christian missionaries and converts within the Chinese interior, which after the Second Opium War in 1860 had been opened up to westerners. The massacre of westerners and Christians in Korea was seen within the context of anti-Western behavior in China by diplomatic and military authorities in the west. Many believed
3608-509: The east coast of Korea demanding trading and residency rights in what seemed an echo of the demands made on China by other western powers. Korean Christians with connections at court saw in this an opportunity to advance their cause and suggested an alliance between France and Korea to repel the Russian advances, suggesting further that this alliance could be negotiated through Bishop Berneux. The Heungseon Daewongun seemed open to this idea, but it
3690-601: The effective power behind the throne, this son was executed in October 1881. The plotters were associates of Daewongun but his involvement is not proved. The Daewongun enjoyed a brief return to power during the Imo Incident in 1882. On the second day of the mutiny, a group of rioters were received by the Daewongun, "who reportedly exhorted them to bring down the Min regime and expel the Japanese". King Gojong asked his father,
3772-474: The fall of 1885, the Chinese returned the Daewongun to Korea, "despite strong objections from the queen and her followers". After the return, he was unhappy when Empress Myeongseong signed Russia–Korea Treaty of 1884 . Daewongun tried to return power again by aiding his grandson Yi Jun-yong , cousin of King Gojong , in an attempt to overthrow King Gojong. In 1894, the Japanese were strengthening their hold over Korea. They needed someone amenable to them to be
3854-533: The first of many unequal treaties signed by Korea. It gave extraterritorial rights to Japanese citizens in Korea, and forced the Korean government to open three ports to Japan: Busan , Incheon and Wonsan . With the signing of its first unequal treaty, Korea became vulnerable to the influence of imperialistic powers; and later the treaty led Korea to be annexed by Japan . Heungseon Daewongun Heungseon Daewongun ( Korean : 흥선대원군 ; Hanja : 興宣大院君 ; 24 January 1821 – 22 February 1898)
3936-597: The following spring unsuccessfully. After this expedition, Roze, with most of his fleet, returned to Japan , where they were able to welcome the first French military mission to Japan (1867–1868) in the harbor of Yokohama on 13 January 1867. The French government ordered the military to leave due to heavy losses in the French intervention in Mexico . The books seized by the French at Ganghwa, some 297 volumes of Uigwe , royal court protocols of Korea's last ruling monarchy,
4018-432: The fortified Korean capital with his limited numbers and large-hulled vessels was impossible. Instead, he opted to seize and occupy Ganghwa Island, which commanded the entrance to the Han River, in the hopes of blockading the waterway to the capital during the important harvest season and thus forcing demands and reparations on the Korean court. The nature that these demands were to take was never fully determined. In Peking,
4100-415: The foundation of a lawfully constituted government in a dependent nation". Ma arrested the Daewongun on the charge of disrespect to the emperor for "usurping the power which the emperor had invested in the king of Korea". However, as he was the father of the king, he was dealt with leniently. One hundred Chinese soldiers escorted the Daewongun to a waiting Chinese warship, and from there to Tianjin . In
4182-423: The great court", a title customarily granted to the father of the reigning monarch when that father did not reign himself (usually because his son had been adopted as heir of a relative who did reign). While there had been three other Daewonguns during the Joseon dynasty, there was no one as dominant as Yi Ha-Eung in the history of the Joseon dynasty that the term Daewongun usually refers specifically to him. Joseon
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#17327728036114264-486: The idea of opening commerce with foreigners. During the political instability in Korea, Japan developed a plan to open and exert influence on Korea before a European power could. In 1875, the plan was put into action: the Un'yō , a small Japanese warship, was dispatched to present a show of force and survey coastal waters without Korean permission. In January 1864, King Cheoljong died without an heir, and Gojong ascended
4346-420: The king. The Daewongun reproached King Gojong and announced that he would be taking over. The Japanese became nervous after placing the Daewongun in charge, as he seemed interested "only in grasping power and purging his opponents and did not see the need for a reform policy". By September 1894, the Japanese decided that the Daewongun was not to be trusted. By early October, it became clear that "the plan to use
4428-472: The kingdom of any foreign ideas that had infiltrated the nation. The disastrous events occurring in China, including the First (1839–1842) and Second Opium Wars (1856–1860), reinforced his determination to isolate Korea from the rest of the world. From the early-to mid-19th century, Western vessels began to make frequent appearances in Korean waters, surveying sea routes and seeking trade. The Korean government
4510-479: The mainland across the narrow straits that Korean forces mobilized daily. On 9 November, the French were again checked when they attempted to seize a fortified monastery on the southern coast of Ganghwa called Jeongdeung–sa. Here again, stiff Korean resistance, coupled with the overwhelming numerical superiority of the Korean defenders, now numbering 10,000 men, forced a French retreat with dozens of casualties but no deaths. Soon after that, with winter approaching and
4592-505: The morning of September 20, 1875, the Japanese gunboat Un'yō began surveying the Western coast of Korea. The ship reached Ganghwa Island , which had been a site of violent confrontations between the Koreans and foreign forces during the previous decade. The memories of those confrontations were very fresh, and there was little question that the Korean garrison would shoot at any approaching foreign ship. Nonetheless, Commander Inoue ordered
4674-471: The name of the Queen. Once Gojong became king, there still remained the question of the king's marriage. Gojong's mother Yeoheung decided upon a daughter of the Min clan, Lady Min . The Daewongun remarked that Min "was a woman of great determination and poise" and was slightly disturbed by her. However, he allowed her to marry his son, and unknowingly created his greatest political rival. During his regency,
4756-427: The province Pak Kyu-su ordered his forces to destroy the ship. During the event, the General Sherman ran aground on a sandbar and Korean forces burned the ship and killed the ship's entire crew of 23. In 1866, after the execution of several of its Catholic missionaries and Korean Catholics, the French launched a punitive expedition against Korea. In 1871, the Americans also launched an expedition to Korea . However,
4838-400: The provincial capital of Pyongyang, and asked permission to trade. Local officials refused to enter into trade talks and demanded the ship's departure. A Korean official was then taken hostage aboard the vessel and its crew members fired guns at enraged Korean officials and civilians onshore. The crew then landed ashore and plundered the town, killing seven Koreans in the process. The governor of
4920-533: The return of all the books on a renewable lease. In June 2011, celebrations were held in the port city of Incheon to commemorate their final return. The collection is now being stored in the National Museum of Korea . In the course of these events, in August 1866, the U.S. civilian merchant ship, SS General Sherman foundered on the coast of Korea during an illegal trade mission. Violence ensued between
5002-568: The royal family who in 1816 was given the name Yi Gu and the title Prince Namyeon. The Daewongun was a 9th generation descendant of King Injo through Grand Prince Inpyeong . The Daewongun was well-schooled in Confucianism and the Chinese classics . He reputedly excelled in calligraphy and painting . His early government career consisted of minor posts that were mostly honorary and ceremonial. For most of his early life, his connection to
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#17327728036115084-581: The royal house seemed of little help to him. He was poor and humiliated by the rich in-laws of the royal house. Since the Andong Kim clan had a lot of authority and influence over the country, he was barred from obtaining high positions in politics even though he was a member of the royal family, the Jeonju Yi clan . Instead, he drew orchids and sold them to Korean nobilities to earn money. The Daewongun came to power when his second son, Yi Myeong-bok ,
5166-463: The seal of the Meiji government rather than the seals that had been authorized for use by the Korean Court for the Sō family. It also used the character ko (皇) rather than taikun (大君) to refer to the Japanese emperor. The Koreans used that character to refer only to the Chinese emperor, and for them, it implied the Japanese ruler's ceremonial superiority to the Korean monarch which would make
5248-427: The throne at the age of 12. However, King Gojong was too young, and the new king's father, Yi Ha-ŭng, became the Daewongun or lord of the great court and ruled Korea in his son's name. Originally, the term Daewongun referred to any person who was not actually the king but whose son took the throne. The Daewongun initiated reforms to strengthen the monarchy at the expense of the yangban (aristocrat) class. Even before
5330-551: The time of Ridel's arrival was the commander of the French Far Eastern Squadron, Rear Admiral Pierre-Gustave Roze . Hearing of the massacre and the affront to French national honor, Roze became determined to launch a punitive expedition against Korea. In this, he was strongly supported by the acting French consul in Peking, Henri de Bellonet. On the French side, there were several compelling reasons behind
5412-432: The treaty were as follows: The following year (1877) saw a Japanese fleet led by Special Envoy Kuroda Kiyotaka coming over to Joseon, demanding an apology from the Korean government and a commercial treaty between the two nations. The Korean government decided to accept the demand in the hope of importing some technologies to defend the country from any future invasions. However, the treaty would eventually turn out to be
5494-411: The troops of General Yi Yong-Hui, to whom Roze sent several letters asking for reparation, without success. A significant blow to the French expedition came on 26 October, when 120 French Naval Fusiliers landed briefly on the Korean mainland in an attempt to seize a small fortification at Munsusansong, or Mt. Munsu Fort (depicted in the illustration above). As the landing party came ashore, they were met by
5576-538: The western powers – seen most recently in its disastrous defeat during the Second Opium War . No doubt also fresh in the Heungseon Daewongun's mind was the example of the Taiping Rebellion in China, which had been infused with Christian doctrines, and in 1858, he saw the conquest of Vietnam by the French . 1865 had seen poor harvests in Korea as well as social unrest, which may have contributed to
5658-563: Was able to protect Joseon from cultural imperialism and westernization and thus protect Korea's heritage from it. However, because he refused to engage in international relations entirely, there was a limited choice of market and slim opportunity for an Industrial Revolution to occur in Korea. Indeed, the Daewongun wanted to avoid engagement with the West – which would have been inevitable if Western countries were allowed to trade freely – as it would erode government influence. The Joseon Dynasty had
5740-527: Was an 1866 punitive expedition undertaken by the Second French Empire against Joseon Korea in retaliation for the execution of seven French Catholic missionaries. The encounter over Ganghwa Island lasted nearly six weeks. The result was an eventual French retreat, and a check on French influence in the region. The encounter also confirmed Korea in its isolationism for another decade, until Japan forced it to open up to trade in 1876 through
5822-460: Was appointed the Prince of Ikseong by Dowager Queen Sinjeong. The next day, his father was granted the title Daewongun, equivalent to the title of " regent " in Korean, the difference being that the title was only given to the biological father of the young king. On 21 January, Yi Myeong-bok was enthroned as King Gojong, and Dowager Queen Sinjeong began her regency. Yi was apparently chosen because "he
5904-429: Was chosen to become king. In January 1864, King Cheoljong died without an heir. The selection of the next king was in the hands of three dowagers: Queen Sinjeong , mother of King Heonjong ; Queen Myeongheon , King Heonjong's wife; and Queen Cheorin , Cheoljong's wife. The " designation right " resided with Dowager Queen Sinjeong , as she was the oldest of the dowagers. In an apocryphal story, Queen Cheorin sent
5986-553: Was extremely wary and referred to the vessels as strange-looking ships. Consequently, several incidents took place. In June 1832, a ship from the East India Company , the Lord Amherst , appeared off the coast of Hwanghae Province seeking trade but was refused. In June 1845, another British warship, Samarang , surveyed the coast of Cheju-do and Chŏlla province. The following month, the Korean government filed
6068-549: Was given the traditional title of the unreigning father of a king: Heungseon Daewongun , or "Prince of the Great Court". Though the Heungseon Daewongun's authority at court was not official, stemming in fact from the traditional imperative in Confucian societies for sons to obey their fathers, he quickly seized the initiative and began to control state policy. He was arguably one of the most effective and forceful leaders of
6150-426: Was going through changes in many aspects during this period, but was for the most part unable to keep up with the rapidly changing situation the country found itself in. Yi Ha-eung, had to solve both the looming threat posed by Western nations, which were continuously encroaching upon the sovereignty of Eastern states, while at the same time attempt to rebuild a country ravaged by poverty and internal power struggles. He
6232-476: Was not a revolution but a restoration, as the Daewongun was attempting to return to the days of King Sejong in the fifteenth century. One of the Daewongun's effective acts as regent was the reconstruction of Gyeongbok Palace . The palace had been built during the reign of the first Joseon king . Much of the building was destroyed in a fire in 1533 and the rest was destroyed during the Japanese invasion of 1592 . The rebuilding took seven years and five months. It
6314-447: Was perhaps the most costly project during the Joseon dynasty. He also weakened the power of the Andong Kim clan and increased the authority of the ruling family. This act stripped almost all of the Andong Kim clan 's power. The Daewongun's reforms were not very successful, as some scholars say he was "too high-handed and tactless". Furthermore, his policies did not have a long-lasting effect. Once Gojong came of age in 1874, he forced
6396-681: Was possibly a ruse to bring the head of the Korean Catholic Church out into the open; upon Berneux's arrival to the capital in February 1866, he was seized and executed. A round-up then began of the other French Catholic priests and Korean converts. Several factors contributed to the Heungseon Daewongun's decision to suppress the Catholics. Perhaps the most obvious was the lesson provided by China, that it had apparently reaped nothing but hardship and humiliation from its dealing with
6478-450: Was the only suitable surviving male member of the Yi clan and closest by blood to the royal house". Since Gojong was so young, Queen Sinjeong invited the Daewongun to assist his son in ruling the country. She virtually renounced her right to be regent, and though she remained the titular regent, the Daewongun acted as the de facto ruler of the country, exercising the powers of the regency in
6560-522: Was the title of Yi Ha-eung , the regent of Joseon during the minority of Emperor Gojong in the 1860s. Until his death, he was a key political figure of late Joseon Korea . He was also called the Daewongun ( lit. ' Grand Internal Prince ' , sometimes translated as "regent"), Guktaegong , or later Internal King Heonui , and also known to contemporary western diplomats as Prince Gung . Daewongun literally translates as "prince of
6642-496: Was time to remove the Daewongun. The Chinese had three reasons they wanted to remove the Daewongun: First, he attempted to overthrow the pro-Chinese Min faction. Second, "he created a situation which invited the Japanese troops to Korea, thus precipitating the danger of a military conflict between Japan on the one hand and Korea and China on the other." And third, "the Taewongun [Daewongun]-inspired disturbance threatened
6724-503: Was too small a part of the Joseon Dynasty to derive such a statement from. In 1874, King Gojong came of age. His wife, Queen Min , influenced his decision to "assume the full measure of royal responsibility", an action that forced the Daewongun into semi-retirement. Daewongun's eldest son, Yi Jae-seon (posthumously known as Prince Imperial Waneun ), was with a concubine. Due to an 1881 isolationist conservative plot to overthrow Gojong and install Yi Jae-seon as king but with Daewongun as
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